2024 Illustrators
Each week we work with a different illustrator to create a custom piece of art for our stories. In alphabetical order:
Alex Chen is an award-winning illustrator from China, currently based in Toronto. She earned her Bachelor of Illustration degree from Sheridan College, and her work has been recognized internationally by organizations such as 3x3, RGD, Hiii Illustration, and others.
She loves to find inspiration in daily life and turn it into lovely illustrations that provide a positive vibe and warm people’s hearts.
See her illustration for My Summer Fling
Alexa Bartle is an illustrator based in Hamburg, Germany. After years as a children’s illustrator, she now focuses on editorial work, combining simple shapes, vibrant colours, and unique characters. Inspired by people and their stories, Alexa captures moments that resonate deeply. Besides drawing, she runs an Instagram blog where she shares her creative journey and connects with a like-minded audience.
See her illustration for To Have Courage
Alexandra Smith is an illustrator who lives in East Village, NYC. She likes to play with lively characters that defy the ordinary. Her work embraces line and texture, creating images from lino prints, murals, and packaging. Some of her inspirations include 1920's cartoons, Hermanus Bosch, and mid-century vintage advertisements along with Keith Karing and Yoshitomo Nara. She also loves collaborating with small and international businesses.
See her illustration for Long Day’s Journey Into Meat
Amelia Stebbing is an illustrator and designer based in Brooklyn, New York. Originally from South Florida, Amelia loves creating images with the bold attitude and colors of a childhood by the sea. While always utilizing geometric shapes, Amelia loves illustrating weird characters, funky arrangements, and spooky narratives.
See Amelia’s illustration for Dread and Butter
Andrew Introna is an illustrator and educator from NYC. His work highlights the small mundanities of life and illustrates them in new and strange ways. When he’s not drawing, he can be found hiking trails with his beagle, Blue.
See his illustration for Ravioli Revelation
Cara Wang is a New York-based illustrator whose works capture the feeling and fabric of everyday life with charm and innocence. The forms she creates are quirky, the proportions and perspectives improbable, but using characters, colours and textures the meaning and emotion shine through.
See her illustration for Home-cooked
Chalzea Xu (she/her/they) is an illustrator from China, who graduated from School of Visual Arts and currently lives in New York. Specializing in cover, editorial and book illustrations, she has been collaborating with publishers, magazines, and new media since 2019.
See her illustration for Dunkin’ Disorder
Changyu Zou is an award-winning illustrator based in Savannah, Georgia. Most of her inspiration comes from words, as they can bring her endless thoughts and imagination. She likes to use collage, gouache, and Photoshop to create illustrations. Her works are always colorful and lively, which are often used in advertisements, and magazines.
She has won several international awards like ijungle Illustration Awards Editorial Gold Medal 2022; Society of Illustrators 65 Jury Selection; American Illustration 41 and 42 Chosen Winner, Communication Art Award of Excellence 2022; IDA Design Awards Multimedia-Animation Silver Medal 2022 etc.
Her clients include The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, PLANSPONSOR, Politico, Christianity Today, Tordotcom Publishing, VinePair, Spectrum News, Girlfriend, Sojourners, and more.
See her illustration for New Orleans: I Missed You Both So Much at Lunch
Chiara Xie is an Ottawa-based illustrator and motion designer specializing in lifestyle, wellness, and technology-related artwork. Her dynamic and colorful creations have been featured in publications such as The Washington Post, Runner’s World, and BBC Science Focus.
See her illustration for Food Fails
Claire Wyman is an illustrator and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated with a BFA in Illustration and a Concentration in Literary Arts and Studies from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019. She loves illustrating the everyday moments of the world around her whether in the city or in nature.
Claire loves happy hour oysters, especially the oysters from Tong, which are dressed with lemongrass, chili jam, mint leaf, shallot, fried shallot.
See her illustration for Chill Graham Cracker Zone
Christian Chang is a Korean-American artist from California but currently based in Brooklyn. His work has been featured in multiple exhibitions and publications at the School of Visual Arts. When not making art he enjoys reading, going to art museums, and watching movies.
See his illustration for Beacons of Breakfast
Christian Ort is a designer and illustrator living in New York with his dog Rosie. He loves video games, cold weather and the feeling of starting a new sketch book.
See his illustration for Send Noods
Colin Verdi is an award-winning illustrator and artist living and working in New York City. He has created illustrations for many books across genres and target age ranges, and his artwork has been licensed to be used for covers that have been published by clients all over the world. He also often works live, creating fashion illustrations of guests at events which they then get to keep. His work has been recognized by American Illustration and by the Society of Illustrators for excellence in the Book, Editorial, and Advertising categories.
See his illustration for Strawberry Shortcake Can Suck My Dick
Dongyan Xu is an award winning illustrator currently based in Beijng. She received an MFA in Illustration Practice and a BFA in Illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Dongyan is interested in the topics of mental wellness, individual emotions, and relationships between living things. Her work often consists of intricate lines, details, and patterns, and she enjoys inserting small animals into artwork to judge the human characters. Recently when she isn’t drawing, she reads fiction and fan fiction, takes walks, and listens to astronomy Podcasts.
See her illustration for Thoroughly Modena, Grazie Mille
To Franco Zacha, illustration is the language of the heart. By combining the world he observes with carefully crafted concepts, Franco captures emotions through the lens of solemnity and beauty. Today, his work is frequently published in the pages of The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, and has been recognized by institutions like the Society of Illustrators and American Illustration. When he is not painting, you may find him relishing the art of old Pokémon cards. Franco is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and based in Providence, RI.
See his illustration for Watching You Enjoy
Greg Kozatek is a New York-based art director. He has worked at Todd Oldham Studio for the past decade, designing art books and creativity products for children. Greg is the creator and editor-in-chief of The InQueery, a queer, illustration-centered satire magazine. He has also worked in Off-Broadway theater designing sets and props.
See his illustration for A Dish of One’s Own
Heedayah Lockman is a freelance illustrator based in Glasgow. She loves to capture playful vibes in illustrating food, female figures and still life. She works primarily on editorials and publications. In her spare time, Heedayah loves going to cafes, sketching (and endlessly planning her next passion projects), playing with her Switch, or watching horror movies.
See her illustration for The Pleasures of Chocolate
HyunJung Yi is a visual artist whose work includes illustration and graphic design. She is from South Korea, lives and works in Los Angeles, California, and is a recent Illustration graduate from ArtCenter College of Design. She’s mostly in entertainment advertising and brings exciting visuals to her clients, including MTG, Marvel, Braindead, etc.
See her illustration for Solo Pasta Faceplant.
Jake Ruggiero is a product designer and illustrator from Austin, Texas. He started making art in the sixth grade, and continued practicing through college at RISD and beyond. Jake loves all things art, design, science, and nutrition, and if he could spend the rest of my life on a beach playing volleyball, he would.
See Jake’s illustration for Winner Winner
Jardley Jean-Louis is a multi-disciplinary artist working in the visual arts, film and animation. When not creating, boxing class is being skipped, Jasper the cat is being chased and the days are taken slowly.
See their illustration for Stupid Fucking Desserts
Jessica Daly is an Art Director and creative multi-hyphenate, living in Brooklyn. She received her BFA from RISD. She loves word puzzles, vocal harmonies, & weird beer.
See her illustration for her story Blood Oats & Irish Rome
Jon McCormack is a Dublin-born illustrator with experience in editorial, storyboarding, and publishing. He graduated with an MA in Visual Arts: Illustration from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London in 2016.
His work displays a strong sense of storytelling and atmosphere, with inspiration derived from cinema, queer culture, comics and manga, and absurd humour.
Previous clients have included; The New York Times, AARP, Medicinal Media, Golf Digest, Totally Dublin, Twenty Thousand Hertz, Kiblind Agence, University of Texas Arlington.
See his illustration for My Espresso Martini Era
Kefan Shi is an illustrator and designer who lives and works in Jersey City and New York. He loves to create visually attractive works through color and composition. He also loves food, gym, hiking, anime and meaningless amusements, all which add extra sparkle to his free time!
See his illustration for Sickly Sweet
Lauren Ward is a designer/illustrator/tinylitttlejock based in Queens, NY. They spend most of their time playing roller derby, riding their bike, and being in love with their dog.
See their illustration for California Eatin’
Linda Liu is an illustrator and a designer based in Southern California with a taste for tactile textures, saucy shapes, and palatable palettes. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and now works freelance and full-time so she can be a girl boss and a girl employee at the same time. She is the author and illustrator of Hidden Gem and Sour Apple.
See her illustration for Confit Me
Madison Tom is a New England-based artist making illustrations about trees and people hanging out. Sometimes both at once!
See their illustration for Scone Abroad
Maria Lyn Hahne is a Seattle-based illustrator, designer, and book artist. Inspired by children’s literature, queer experiences, and creatures from the natural world, she strives to create art that moves past shame and pain and envisions an optimistic, colorful future. She also just really likes drawing dogs.
See her illustration for Do You Know About ARFID?
Meredith Miotke is an illustrator, and pattern designer. Formerly based in NYC, she recently made the move back to her hometown of Detroit. When not drawing, she can usually be found trying to perfect homemade Hot Pockets or attempting to stop her two cats from bullying her pup.
See her illustration for Balls Deep
Mia “M. L.” Moore is an award-winning illustrator, cartoonist, and art student based in New York with an interest in all things historical. She is currently developing her comic, Feeble Follies, and is studying at the School of Visual Arts, pursuing a BFA in Illustration.
See her illustration for Going Whole Frog
Michelle Perez is an illustrator based in Providence, Rhode Island. Her work embraces fluidity and movement to tell compelling stories. When she's not drawing, she loves taking long strolls and savoring her carefully crafted playlists.
See her illustration for Sweet Cream and Bitter Greens
Nadia Kossman (they/them) is an illustrator from Queens, New York. Their practice focuses on combining their painting and printmaking experience to create zines, children’s books, and risograph prints. In their spare time, they enjoy going biking and trying new foods.
See their illustration for Caesar Season
Olga Aleksandrova is former architect turned editorial illustrator, based in Central Asia. Her work has been featured in publications such as Esquire, Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, and BBC. Olga's illustrations blend metaphorical expression with visual storytelling. Check out her portfolio and follow her on Instagram for the latest creations.
See her illustration for Between Bread
Oliver Li is a freelance illustrator based in the UK, specializing in editorial illustration, publishing and visual design. His work is characterized by vibrant colors and a strong personal touch. He simply want to bring joy to his viewers.
See his illustration for The New Old Me
Paulo D. Campos is a Brazilian-Portuguese illustrator living and working in Jersey City, New Jersey.
See his illustration for An Annual Affair
Racheal Bruce is an illustrator and educator from St. Louis. Her work imbues the feeling that a fantastical unreality could exist in our physical world, with all of the whimsy and eeriness that comes with it. She's curious how an audience interacts with their own feelings of superstition.
See her illustration for A Hideous Coleslaw
See her illustration for Miti Miti
Ruthy Kim is an illustrator and designer based in Los Angeles, and she loves creating artwork that brings a smile to people's faces and fills them with joy and hope. She shares stories through illustrations that celebrate joyous moments in life. When she isn't drawing, she's at church praising God.
See her illustration for Sunset Over New York
Sanika Phawde is an educator, cartoonist, and reportage artist born and raised in India and based in Boston. Through autobiographical comics, visual essays, drawings on location, gouache paintings and illustrated interviews their work strives to capture and communicate instances of emotional connection, queer immigrant culture and conversations people have over meals.
See their illustration for An Eggceptional Friend
Sergey Isakov is an illustrator and visual artist with a background in design. He graduated with honors from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in 2019. Born in Azerbaijan and currently based in Israel, his primary focus is on the editorial market. However, he also works on commercial, animation, and advertising projects.
Sergey loves using strong compositions and playing with scale and perspective, utilizing bold colors and ideas. His work ranges from minimal to intricate compositions, incorporating texture and small elements to create print-like works that evoke a sense of playfulness, wonder, and mystery.
In his spare time, he loves running, traveling, and hiking for long distances.
See his illustration for Caramelized & Cruciferous
ShinYeon Moon is an illustrator based in Brooklyn. Moon holds an M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in Illustration as Visual Essay. She currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts and Fashion Institute of Technology. She has received accolades from different illustration publications including 3x3 Magazine, Society of Illustrators, and Communication Arts. Their second illustrated picture book will be out this June, titled Once Upon A Friend.
See her illustration for Right This Hwae
Sophie Foulkes is an artist, designer, and illustrator from Western Massachusetts who graduated from RISD with a BFA in Illustration. She enjoys creating fantastical imagery by experimenting with eccentric colors and textures. Her work is narrative and playful and is often inspired by personal experiences combined with natural phenomena. Sophie’s work strives to capture the emotions and excitement of a moment in order to share with others.
See her illustration for Smallest State, Best Plates
Spencer Alexander is based in Brooklyn and enjoys drawing, listening to records, reading comics, playing bass in his rock & roll band, painting landscapes, and long walks with his pup named Bea. He is the proud author and illustrator of the comic "Rumble" the story of the unsung Rock & Roll hero Link Wray.
See his illustration for Memories of a Martini
Violeta Encarnación is a Cuban, award-winning illustrator based in New York City, known for her vibrant, storytelling-driven visuals across traditional and digital media. Her work has appeared in publications like The New York Times, Sports Illustrated Kids, and The Washington Post. Violeta’s art often explores our connection to nature and each other, inviting viewers to reflect on these relationships.
See her illustration for The Big 2024 Banquet
Wesley Allsbrook was born in Durham, North Carolina. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Wesley has been recognized by The Art Directors Club, The Society of Publication Designers, The Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Communication Arts, Sundance Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, the Television Academy and The Peabody Awards. She writes and draws.
See her illustration for The Scuttlebutt
Xin Huang is an illustrator from China who graduated from SVA in 2023. She currently resides in both New York City and Los Angeles. She loves to use her work to express her feelings for every unforgettable moment in life. For drawing and painting, Xin mostly uses Artstudio and Procreate, and she also uses Photoshop for adjusting hand-drawn works.
See her illustration for My Life in Lasagna: A Love Story